Gjakova: Three players lead with 4.0/4.

5/16/2016 – After four rounds three players lead the field at the European Championship with 4.0/4 each. Baadur Jobava played a fine game, in which he continually put pressure on his opponent. Ernesto Inarkiev was well-prepared and alert and Radoslaw Wojtaszek showed a lot of patience in a King's Indian structure which was rewarded when his opponent finally went wrong.

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Ernesto Inarkiev showed a strong performance. His opponent Andriasian is a well-known Najdorf-expert and has even written a book about this popular Sicilian defense. However, Inarkiew was not afraid of a theoretical duel and good preparation and strong play earned him his fourth win in a row.

Last preparations before Ernesto Inarkiev and Zaven Andriasian can show their opening knowledge.

Alexander Ipatov played with Black at the top but after a long struggle lost against Radoslaw Wojtaszek.

The Georgian grandmaster Baadur Jobava also has 4.04. In 2015 things did not go weill for Jobava and in the last 18 months he has lost about 60 rating points and currently has an Elo of 2674. Jobava is known for his creative play and his unusual openings but in round four he opted for a more solid approach - which was rewarded.

Marco BaldaufMarco Baldauf, born 1990, has been playing since he was eight. In 2000 and 2002 he became German Junior Champion, in 2014 he became International Master. He plays for SF Berlin in the Bundesliga.

See also

12/30/2017 – The "King Salman World Blitz & Rapid Championships 2017" in Riyadh from Decemer 26th to 30th. At the half way point of the Blitz Championship, the defending champ Sergey Karjakin leads with 9 / 11. Maxime Vachier-Lagrave is a half point back followed by Peter Svidler and a trio of Chinese: Wang, Ding and Yu on 8 / 11. In the Women's Pia Cramling has a full point lead with 9½ / 11. Watch live with Rounds 11 to 22 from 12:00 Noon CET (6:00 AM EST) on Saturday with commentary by E. Miroshnichenko & WGM K. Tsatsalashvili.

See also

12/6/2017 – Imagine this: you tell a computer system how the pieces move — nothing more. Then you tell it to learn to play the game. And a day later — yes, just 24 hours — it has figured it out to the level that beats the strongest programs in the world convincingly! DeepMind, the company that recently created the strongest Go program in the world, turned its attention to chess, and came up with this spectacular result.

Video

Former World Champion Mikhail Botvinnik liked to play the French and once described it as a 'difficult and dangerous opening'. But in this 60 minutes video IM Andrew Martin suggests an aggressive and little-used idea of the renowned attacking player GM Viktor Kupreichik to counter the French: 1.e4 e6 2.d4 d5 3.e5 c5 4.c3 Nc6 5.Be3!?. Andrew Martin uses the games of Kupreichik to show why this line could catch many French aficionados unprepared and is very dangerous for Black. Attacking players will love this line and the unusual complications that it promotes.

Enjoy the best moments of recent top tournaments (World Cup, Isle of Man Open) with analysis of top players. In addition you'll get lots of training material. For example 10 new suggestions for your opening repertoire.